J0' 



40 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



substances may pass into the colloidal condition and 

 that even typical colloids may assume a crystalloid 

 mode of aggregation? It surely is not diflGcult to 

 imagine, therefore, that molecular rearrangements may 

 take place amongst the constituents of ammoniacal 

 salts of greater complexity, whereby a more complex 

 colloid may be produced — one which may differ in no 

 essential respect from the simplest forms of protein. 

 And if such a change does take place, it would be 

 only rational for us to suppose that the new-formed 

 protein would be just as prone to undergo change as 

 this substance generally is. If ordinary protein com- 

 pounds, therefore, which have been built up in living 

 things, are capable of going through certain life-giving 

 changes, it would be quite natural to suppose that the 

 differently evolved protein — that which comes into 

 existence ^ spontaneously,^ or without the influence 

 of pre existing living matter — would go through similar 

 changes. 



Wherever life-giving combinations occur, therefore^ 

 we are entitled to look upon them as actions resulting 

 from the influence of physical forces upon material 

 collocations whose molecular constitution is of such a 

 nature as to render them most prone to undergo 

 rearrangements. A series of reactions takes place 



quite undiffusible when submitted to dialysis.* In summing up the 

 results of his researches, he comes to the conclusion—' That there is a 

 constant change, as rotation in nature, from crystalloids to colloids, and 

 from colloids to crystalloids.' 



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